Sometimes I want to hide my face in my hands. Indefinitely.
A couple weeks ago, West Virginia’s John Raese made national news by telling an audience of Putnam County Republicans that the requirement that he post a sign banning smoking on his business property was the same as Hitler making Jews wear a Star of David. Mr. Raese will be running against Joe Manchin in the fall for the U. S. Senate seat once held by Robert Byrd. In a YouTube video, Mr. Raese is shown saying that he believes everyone ought to be able to do as he or she pleases, “’cause I’m an American,” he reasons.
Today, I’m feeling numb as I read dozens of Facebook posts expressing shock, sadness, but mostly embarrassment that once again, a great many West Virginians, 57,081 of them to be exact, have proven themselves to be braying asses too stupid to understand the value of their individual vote. They squandered their votes on an imprisoned Texas felon crafty enough to get on the presidential ballot in the State of West Virginia. (Not much craft involved, since West Virginia’s ballot laws are lax.) No doubt, those West Virginians will be the inspiration for much hilarious commentary on this evening’s satirical talk shows.
But what about the rest of us? The ones who have either elected to stay in West Virginia, or have come back, often because of family ties? Some of us are deeply committed to a clean environment because it directly correlates to better health for human beings. Some of us are working hard for a diversified economy that will allow entrepreneurs to create opportunity for many years in the future. Some of us see the beauty of West Virginia that is too often obscured by careless industrial practices, the same practices and attitudes that apparently also dull minds. We’re the ones who insist that West Virginia and its people are worth making sacrifices for.
Today, some of us have to be wondering why we bother.
Appalachia Today 
I may be horrified at how strongly people oppose Obama, and even more appalled at what may be their reasons, BUT they cannot be faulted for “squandering” their votes. I would say their votes left a clear and enduring message.
Yes, West Virginia is worth it, but sometimes, actually often, I wonder. I’m “deeply committed” but I’m not sure for how long. I know I’d miss it when I’m gone….
Kudos for your efforts to support West Virginia and a diversified economy.
I have a few observations about your comments, though.
1) Calling your fellow citizens “braying asses” won’t help you build any coalition. You’ll get more positive results by explaining your logic than by insulting others.
2) “Squandering votes” is a question of perspective. I know many people voted for Judd as a protest. I may disagree with them on this choice, but we are taught, after all, that our vote is our message. And since Obama was most likely going to take the Democratic nomination without these votes, what exactly have they squandered?
3) Lastly, having few barriers to become a candidate can be a *good* thing. I have seen the effects of very restrictive laws governing ballot access. Such laws allow a few, powerful people to control who gets to be on a ballot and they support entrenched machines and foster corruption. Reducing candidacy barriers allows for a greater diversity of candidates and a healthier political ecosystem.
Don’t allow the prejudices that you perceive in our country’s attitude toward West Virginia to lead you to embarrassment. Recognize prejudice for what it is and let your faith in, and support of, West Virginia help you to meet that prejudice with facts.
Thanks, D Burrell and Jeanne Mozier, for your chastening remarks. A moment of kitchen table candor overcame me, and I was compelled to blurt rather than reason. If I had reasoned concerning the votes I declared were squandered, it would have taken me a lot longer to think out and explain my reaction. Now that I’ve been called upon to explain how a vote for a felon is a squandered vote, I must confess that I agree, those votes were not necessarily squandered. Yes, they could be a legitimate and powerful way of protesting, even if my fellow West Virginians who voted for Judd may not have known the man is a felon. Perhaps they were actually saying anybody but Obama. Now I’m left to speculate as to why they favor anybody but Obama.
I’ve heard arguments from folks who oppose his winning a second term ranging from the opinion that he has been fiscally irresponsible, to anger that he has not worked to strike down abortion, to fear that he is working toward a Muslim takeover. As much as it pains me, I realize there are people who really don’t like him simply because he has African blood. Those folks apparently haven’t heard that scientists have discovered that we all have African DNA. These are the people who haven’t noticed his eloquence, and who are only intimidated by his intelligence.
All this has caused me to ponder the ideas behind Republican and Democratic thought, and that’s when it gets really complicated. As I understand it—and I welcome comment from anyone who knows political theory far better than I—Republicans felt and perhaps still feel that the “average person” is not capable of casting an informed vote, and thus needs to be represented by a more erudite thinker. Democrats supposedly are committed to the concept of “one person, one vote,” no matter how dimly or imperfectly that one person may perceive and interpret reality. Anyone who is registered to vote can express him or herself through that one vote, but we have a republican form of government designed to protect us, we hope, from the uninformed rabble. (Whoops, there I go again, hurling insults.) It gets scary when it comes to pass that our representatives don’t actually represent us, but have been purchased, and act according to levers most of us rabble don’t see or comprehend.
Some say that Obama is like all the rest of “them,” that getting exercised about any election is futile. I haven’t yet reached that fatalistic conclusion, although summing up the opposition as “braying asses” expresses my childlike resentment in a phrase. If Obama wins a second term and if we wind up under the dominion of Al Qaida as a result, maybe we’ll be oppressed for several hundred years just like black folks were in our country. That payback would indeed be painful. Or maybe we’ll be stricken from our world economic leadership position, and the Wall Street hustlers will be stripped of their respectability and they’ll be revealed to be the same as the Russian and Chinese mafia I’ve heard are the scourge of those countries.
Maybe we’ll all see that the plutocrats who some say rule everything and always have, no matter what, really are ultimately in control, and most of us will settle down to serfdom, although “they’ll” tell us it’s something else, and convince us that we like it.
For now, I’ll persist in my naive belief in American ideals, including the one that even braying asses have a right to bray. I’ll plunk down my meager few dollars in support of the candidates I hope will win, even while hoping that a constitutional amendment will get the money out of politics. Wonder what the political landscape would look like then?
I have no idea if these comments I’m leaving are ‘sticking’, cause I don’t know how to check. If you don’t see this, let me know, hahahahaaaa….
I don’t have newspapers or TV…. am fairly disconnected. Will say, tho, that Raese struck me as BAAAADDDDD news when i ran across him in The Greenbrier 7 yrs. ago. He is not good.
This is not the response I was hoping for in its entirety. I thought you would apologize to the 40% of the Democratic voters who cast ballots for Mr. Judd. You stopped short and said “ncluding the one that even braying asses have a right to bray”. I do not agree with most of your blog and you and I often have debates on issues such as these, however I will admit that you are trying to tackle an issue I am challenged by every day; diversifying the West Virginia economy. I applaud you and the others in the state who are working towards that goal.
But how are we going to get there by not supporting the traditional industries in the state, such as coal; timber; chemicals; natural gas; etc. Traditional industries provide the tax revenue and pay rolls to to ensure that the revenue streams are there to fund the efforts that you champion.
For decades and generations our leaders in West Virginia have squandered that opportunity and we are still trying to reach a summit with out a means to support ourselves in the journey. Demand that our elected leaders strive for excellence and invest in job training, educational programs, and additional programs to achieve these results.
Name calling and fighting the status qua does not always work. You have to get along before you can go along. Donkeys have a bridal and binders, sometimes they need guidance and assistance to find their way. A responsible person who wants to change that animals direction achieves success through kind words, guidance, support, and an understanding of the region that the animal comes from.
To put this into perspective, if you want to achieve the success in the coal fields of West Virginia you are wanting lead instead of using the whip. The people of the region might just surprise you.
Dear Dennis, I’m glad you’re hanging in there on this discussion, and I can understand your sensitivity when it comes to name calling, although Some people might defend it as calling a spade a spade. I can’t think right now of an unflattering characterization of people who are more aligned with my point of view, but I’m sure someone can come up with some examples that would peel my paint–or make me laugh. Remember, I am counted among the folks who are so often dismissed as stupid, feckless, etc. etc. The only apology I make is for failing to take the time to explain my point of view, a time-consuming enterprise, for sure. I hope you will become involved in Create West Virginia, and I hope you’ll be able to persuade the folks in Montgomery to form their own Create Montgomery group. In the years I have been involved in CreateWV, I have learned a lot about New Economy thinking, and about how to move more quickly toward an actual New Economy here. It’s an exhilarating, creative process that brings out the best in everyone. As for the people in this region, I am only surprised when they disappoint me by demonstrating zenophobia, a lack of tolerance for new ideas, lack of understanding that environmental issues are actually vital health issues, and allow themselves to be led by the nose by people who are only motivated by their own short-term profit goals. The West Virginians I idealize are kind and helpful to people in need, and use their native ingenuity to help themselves and their neighbors, who now include everyone on the globe. You only say that you don’t agree with most of my blog, and I am trying to figure out if you mean the actual blog, or my additional comment. I would be interested in seeing what you don’t agree with, point by point, not for the sake of argument, for for the sake of my own understanding.